Canada has ‘no intention’ of pursuing free trade with China: Carney
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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada has “no intention” of pursuing a free trade agreement with china,citing commitments under CUSMA that bar new FTAs with nonmarket economies without prior notification. He described the recent Jan. 16 preliminary agreement with China as a targeted fix to problems that arose in recent years—highlighting a tariff arrangement that allows Canada to import 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles annually at a reduced 6.1% rate while China lowers tariffs on some Canadian agricultural goods—and said the deal is consistent with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement.
The move has provoked a strong response from former U.S. President donald Trump, who threatened a 100% tariff on all Canadian exports if Carney “makes a deal” with China and later revoked Carney’s invitation to the Trump-chaired Board of Peace. Tensions between the two leaders escalated after critical remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos.U.S. treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also criticized the Canada-China arrangement, warning it coudl open a pathway for China to offload cheap goods into the U.S. economy.
Carney warned more broadly about great powers using economic integration as a weapon—particularly through tariffs—while defending his government’s approach as narrowly focused on resolving trade frictions rather than pursuing a broader market-access pact with China.
Canada has ‘no intention’ of signing free trade deal with China, Carney says
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney insisted he has no plans to pursue a free trade agreement with China, as President Donald Trump fumes over a recent partnership between the two countries.
Canada and China struck a “preliminary agreement” on Jan. 16 that saw both lower tariffs on certain goods. It included Canada importing 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles annually at a lowered rate of 6.1%, and China agreeing to lower tariffs on some Canadian agricultural products.
The move has angered Trump, who threatened a 100% tariff on all Canadian exports to the United States if Carney “makes a deal” with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Carney responded to the threat on Sunday by denying he had such a plan and defending the recent agreement.
“We have commitments under CUSMA not to pursue free trade agreements with nonmarket economies without prior notification,” he told reporters. “We have no intention of doing that with China or any other nonmarket economy.”
Carney instead framed the recent China deal as fixing “some issues that developed in the last couple of years,” particularly with EVs. He maintained that it is “entirely consistent” with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement.
His comments come as tensions between him and Trump are high, particularly after they attacked each other in respective speeches at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week.
Without name-dropping Trump or the U.S., Carney warned of “great powers” using “economic integration as weapons,” specifically through tariffs.
Trump responded to that speech by saying Carney “wasn’t so grateful” and that “Canada lives because of the United States.”
“Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements,” he added.
Trump would later go on to revoke Carney’s invitation to join the Board of Peace, a Trump-chaired coalition primarily focused on Gaza’s reconstruction after the Israel-Hamas war.
But the concern over China’s increase presence in Canada’s economy has extended beyond any personal disagreements the two leaders may share.
Earlier on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expressed alarm about Carney’s trade deal with Xi, specifically with the possibility that Canada becomes “an opening” for China to dump cheap products into the U.S.
BESSENT SAYS CARNEY ‘NOT DOING THE BEST JOB’ FOR CANADA AMID CHINA TRADE TALKS
“I’m not sure what Prime Minister Carney is doing here, other than trying to virtue signal to his global friends at Davos. I don’t think he is doing the best job for the Canadian people,” Bessent said on ABC News’s This Week.
Trump also claimed that China has now “successfully and completely” taken over Canada, quipping that he hopes “they leave Ice Hockey alone.”
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